river_meimei | (no subject)

Entry tags:

duo,
field trips

(no subject)

Moon Base Station is, apart from certain restricted-access sectors, built for tourism. Some tourists, like Duo, are just killing time during a layover; others come here, to the cheap hotels or the expensive ones with a real-time video view of Earth, to spend their whole vacation within the base's walls.

There's a casino area somewhere not too far away, but River and Duo have opted for one of the more family-friendly bits instead. It's a shopping area, full of glittering storefronts and small food-court nooks, with an intricately tiled floor and fountains every few dozen meters. Tiny potted trees show off the station's opulence -- this is space, after all, where trees are hard to come by.

River's already found herself cotton candy somewhere.

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The Preventer crosses the doorway, and the gunslinger follows.

Into, well, a maintenance hallway. It's unremarkable, grey-painted, and a good deal narrower than the hallwey they just left.

"Cheery," Duo remarks in a quiet undertone. There's only one way to go, from here. Straight it is.

He pulls his gun from his holster, though. No telling where this leads.

River follows suit, holding the stun gun comfortably at her side, half-hidden among the purple ruffles.

Some distance along, there's another maintenance door, though the hallway continues beyond. River cocks a thoughtful look at it.

Duo glances at her, then at the door. Then he quashes a thought about how nice it would be to have River along on missions.

"This way?"

"It's a collection," River says to the door, still looking at it as if it might answer back.

That sounds like a yes.

Duo raises an eyebrow. A collection of what? Well, only one way to find out.

He squirts the hinges of the door with a little grease, just in case. No sense in announcing themselves before they want to be introduced.

He pushes the door open a crack, and slips through. He holds it for River, then lets it shut gently behind them.

River doesn't react to the idea of carrying around hinge oil on a routine layover. It's as if she hangs out with people of dubious legality, or something!

She just slips through the door, silent in her stompy boots -- they're better for that purpose than you'd think, when they're rubber-soled and well broken in -- and flicks a scanning glance across the room beyond.

And the room below. They're on a balcony.

The balcony goes all around the room below. Duo immediately crouches, motioning for River to do the same, if she hasn't already.

She wasn't kidding, either. It is a collection. Seems like Mr. Nove was on his way to a meeting. Duo counts at least five people on the Preventer wanted list. (If not 'Most Wanted' then 'Definitely Wanted'.)

There are a lot of weapons in this room.

A lot of weapons, and a lot of thugs in various states of looming and background-lurking. They rather outnumber the affable (but also weapon-toting) men and women who are shaking hands and discussing their mutual protestations of honesty, openness, and a serious intent to do business for the benefit of all parties.

(And, for some reason, there's also a boa constrictor. It seems pretty content to be draped around a smuggler's neck.)

Duo's eyes get very big. It's like Christmas morning!

Except you...no, okay, bad metaphor. It's like a roomful of smugglers with only one Preventer to arrest them all, and no back-up coming for more than an hour.

He waves a furious back up, back up gesture at River. He's gonna set a fire under the asses of every Preventer on this rock if he has to.

River took a quick look at the room. That's all she needs, for the moment.

(River has a good memory.)

Obedient to Duo's frantic signals, she eases back towards the door.

He's already dialing as the door shuts.

"Get this place shut down now," he hisses, once again in touch with the station commander. "It's smuggler central in here." He details the names and descriptions of everyone he recognized while River keeps lookout.

Nobody comes along.

Which is useful. There aren't many storage closets around here to stick a thug in, for one.

Clicking the phone shut, Duo glances back up to her. "Last chance to back out," he says in an undertone.

River's face is, as often, eloquent.

And of course, that's when the PA system goes off.

"Good evening!" It says in a cheery tone. "In accordance with local ordinances and request from Preventer Command, all outgoing flights have been cancelled until further notice. We apologize for the inconvenience!"

Duo stares up at the speaker, and then leaps to his feet, racing back toward the door. "Shit!"

River's head snaps over towards Duo; she's at his heels before the look of confusion has quite faded.

(River has a disadvantage here of not always being sure what she's really hearing, not to mention not being familiar with Preventers SOP. It might have taken her a minute to put together that cheery complex-wide announcement with the fact that they're trying for secrecy.)

Through the door -- they both scuttle through low, this time -- and onto the balcony. Below, the room is suddenly a whole lot busier.

It's mostly a lot of shouting and cursing and several people waving guns around. They seem to be having a disagreement about exactly who thought meeting here was a good idea, and who betrayed whom.

Clearly it's the opportune moment for Duo to pop up over the railing and yell. "Preventers! Everybody freeze!"

Nobody freezes, but several people respond with bullets.

"Find the liquid nitrogen," River contributes, to the hunkered-down lump of Duo beside her. "They're not listening."

She's just as huddled. The thick waist-high wall of the balcony below its decorative railing is their primary protection right now -- and a godsend, from the number of bullets thunking into said wall.

"No respect for the rule of law."

"You did not have to come," Duo says, pointing the Finger of Accusation at her.

And then he jumps over the railing.

River takes a second to stare blankly at him. Why is that relevant, Duo?

Then she's following after him, vaulting the railing on a slightly different trajectory that will carry her to the floor a few yards away. (Not too very far below, and there's a thug to cushion her landing against his will too.)

Canda, they call it in the High Speech: the distance that ensures that two gunslingers can't be taken out by a single shot.

Some of the smugglers (and minions) are fleeing, not realizing that there are only two people to face, not an entire Preventer assault team.

All the better for Duo and River, because those at the front are starting to realize that no one else is rushing in.

Duo shoots a gun out of someone's hand. (And maybe a few fingers, too.) He wants these guys in too much pain to run away, but alive to answer lots of questions.

Duo's aiming for non-lethal targets.

And this is law enforcement and a stalling tactic. The conclusion follows. Okay.

River kicks someone hard in the ribs, yanks him into his boss while he's off-balance, drops and spins and slips a hand into her pocket while she's doing so; her fist comes out weighted with the stunner, and she swings the business end straight upwards into somebody's chin. (It's the sort with a crackling end that jolts the recipient with a stunning shock, not a stun-gun. Luckily, hand-to-hand is something River Tam can work with.)

They're outnumbered, fighting to disable against people who won't hesitate to kill, and time is of the essence; she rolls to her feet, and keeps moving.

That's enough of a distraction for Duo to advance on another gunman and punch him square in the nose. This also makes him have to shake his hand out, but that's no problem, as he uses a knee to drive all the breath out of the guy's lungs.

More bullets clang and ricochet, but they seem vaguely reluctant to aim at each other, despite the earlier argument.

Handy! Anything that makes them hesitate in their aim is of use.

Also: River is not hesitating to aim them at each other, when the opportunity presents itself. Either in throws, or in helping a blow (or, twice, a bullet) to swing wide.

However, this is a big room with a couple of exits, and River and Duo are only two people against close to 30 opponents. Not everyone is sticking around to fight.